HC Deb 28 October 1999 vol 336 cc954-5W
Mr. Austin

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the additional expenditure by his Department on housing benefit subsidy in respect of rent allowances paid to local authorities in each of the years from 1989–90 to 1998–99 in respect of tenants of registered social landlords created as a result of large scale voluntary transfers. [94345]

Angela Eagle

The only estimates made are projections for transfers of funds from the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions to this Department for the three years following each tranche of large scale voluntary transfers. The Rent Allowance expenditure relating to transferred properties cannot be identified beyond this three year period because the Housing Benefit data does not distinguish between Registered Social Landlord tenants in transferred properties, and those in other Registered Social Landlord

Projected increases to rent allowance subsidy at the time of transfer
£ million
1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02
Year of transfer
1991–92 3.9 4.5 5.1
1992–93 28.9 42.7 47.2
1993–94 29.1 30.4 27.6
1994–95 42.5 52.7 58.6
1995–96 42.9 45.9 47.8
1996–97 23.6 25.3 26.9
1997–98 49.1 50.6 51.8
1998–99 66.7 69.6 72.4